This invention relates to an artificial satellite equipment panel for installation on an artificial satellite.
For assembly and test of an artificial satellite, the test must be achieved in terms of the satellite equipment as individual unit to be installed as well as in terms of the satellite system in which individual units are incorporated. The system test of the satellite here is required to be achieved after the system is manufactured and assembled into an assembly of the shape as close as the final shape at which the satellite actuary operates on the orbit. The reason for this is because, in the satellite system, the arrangement and the wiring routes for the respective components on the satellite structure are designed solely for that particular satellite, and the examination of the functions of the satellite system must be achieved in terms of the components to be tested, with all the components mounted on the equipment panels, by connecting them and supplying electric power. For the test of the functions of the system, it is not sufficient to test individual components separately.
Therefore, when any malfunction or trouble is found in the satellite system during the test, the malfunctioned equipment must be dismounted, repaired and mounted again. However, dismounting and mounting of the malfunctioned equipment takes a very long time because the equipments are assembled in the satellite final shape.
In order to alleviate this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-203494 proposes that the module-type spacecraft structure be composed of a standard bus unit and modules to which independent functions are assigned, and the arrangement is such that a satellite can be constructed by connecting the modules to the standard bus unit.
Also, the interface checker disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-280999 is composed of a signal interface connector for receiving output signals from artificial satellite installation equipments as shown in FIG. 7, change-over switches, measurement unit and a data processing unit and capable of an automatic checking of the equipments themselves and between the harnesses. Therefore, the signal lead-out and confirmation operation for checking the signal between the installed equipments, which have heretofore been complicated, been hard and can be simplified, improving the productivity and maintenance.
In the module-type spacecraft structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-203494, it is only necessary to connect the modules to the standardized bus unit, whereby new functions may be added to the satellite and the satellite can be made light-weighted and compact. However, the test cannot be conducted without the standardized bus unit, so that the bus unit is indispensable even in the test wherein the modules on which equipments are mounted are combined and the test cannot be conducted with the equipment panels alone. Also, the modules must be connected through the use of the standardized bus unit, so that the structure cannot be applied to the box-shape satellite, posing a limitation to the configuration of the satellite.
Also, the interface checker disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-280999 allows an automatic check of the equipments themselves and between the harnesses connecting the equipments, so that the signal lead-out and confirmation operations for the signal check between the mounted equipments, which has heretofore been complex, can be simplified and thus the productivity and maintainability can be improved. However, although this checker achieves the automatic check of the equipment themselves and the connections between the harnesses, the checker cannot be used for testing a satellite system in which these equipments are combined.
Accordingly, the present invention was made to solve the above-discussed problems and has as its object the provision of a satellite equipment panel that allows various system tests or satellite equipment tests by combining prescribed numbers of equipment panels necessary for constituting the satellite, and that does not need the wiring operation when the satellite equipments are mounted to and dismounted from the equipment panel and when the equipment panels are connected together, whereby the artificial satellite delivery time is shortened, test cost is reduced and the reliability is improved.